I’ve read lots of books on Zen and Buddhism yet still … (read point below)

Seeing someone litter makes me MAD.

I love big, old gnarly trees.

Dancing makes me ridiculously happy.

My blog was just nominated for The Versatile Blogger award.

This week I had the unexpected pleasure of being notified that my Cheekytree blog has been nominated for The Versatile Blogger award by Sketches & Jottings – a wonderfully creative blog that looks inside the journals and sketchbooks of artists and other interesting people.

First, I’d like to say a BIG THANK YOUto Sketches & Jottings for your high praise: “An imaginative, always upbeat maker of amazing silk scarves, who writes as well as she designs”. It feels so good to be among your list of blogs that inspire.

The idea behind The Versatile Blogger Award nominations is to use these nominations to make others aware of other great blogs. So in return, I’m pleased to nominate the following. I hope you will enjoy discovering them for yourself.

10 Blogs That Inspire Me (in no particular order): My love of art, textile and surface design has led me to find these creative and interesting individuals from all over the world including: Canada, the United States, Scotland, Spain and Brazil. All of these blogs have sparked my creativity and imagination this past year with the inspiring art and design they have shared. These are my nominations for The Versatile Blogger Award:

I’m a pesco-vegetarian. So for the past 16 years I haven’t eaten any meat other than fish. That’s right, no turkey on Thanksgiving, no BBQ steak in the summer, and no visit to KFC to try the infamous Double Down.But on Saturday I had to eat crow.

Earlier in the week I called my sister just to chat. I asked how she was, listened for a minute or two, and replied with a spontaneous well-intended remark. She normally loves my spontaneity. We share a similar sense of humour and on a good day, she thinks my impulsive comments are witty. On a brilliant day, she thinks I’m hysterical. But on this day, she wasn’t laughing.

Everyone knows that to tell a good joke, timing is key. And an insensitive commentspoken at the wrong moment is like an angry wasp — it can sting many times.

And once you say something, you just can’t take it back.

So what did I do? Apologize profusely? Beg for my sister’s forgiveness? No, I became defensive. (This makes things worse). And our phone call quickly ended with two abrupt good-byes.

If you ‘eat crow’ it means you have to admit that you were wrong about something. I knew I was wrong. I felt guilty. She deserved an apology but it wasn’t going to be enough to just say: “I’m sorry”.

She was out-of-town on business, so for the next few days I thought about why I was sorry. My comment was critical. And my choice of timing made an otherwise insensitive remark even cruel. But the thing I felt most apologetic about, was hurting someone I love.

On Saturday, I typed a note with talking points so that I would remember all the things I wanted to say. I took a deep breath and dialed the phone. It rang. She answered and I began with: “I’ve called to apologize.”

I admitted I was wrong. I ate crow and it was tough at first, but my sister was receptive, and that made it easier. I think she was as relieved to hear my heartfelt apology as I was to say it. After it was over, we briefly chatted about other things, and this time our call ended in our usual way: “bye, love you”. When I hung up the phone, I felt like everything was right again.